Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon - Master Post

Greetings one and all and welcome to my mostly dormant blog! This blog that existed back at the very beginning of Dewey's readathons - it's hard to imagine.

Now we are in a pandemic and it's been years since I've properly done a Deweython, so I'm going to Frankenstein the old blog for the day to post Readathon updates, but I'll also be hanging out over at my Litsy, so please do stop in and say hi if you need a break from all this arduous reading.  ;-)

Here's the opening survey:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?

Sunny Danville, PA  (wait....it's actually sunny?)

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?

I didn't make a proper stack, so I don't have a good answer to this question, but when I was scrolling Libby for a potential audiobook for the day....I found Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone actually available for borrowing....instead of with 6 months' worth of holds on it.  So that's kind of a Readathon miracle.  I anticipate doing some audio walking and audio cooking to the soothing strains of Harry Potter.

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?

Not exactly a snack, but I did get myself an order of takeout wings to enjoy for lunch today.  Guess I'll be doing some audio eating, too.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!

Hmmm....my name's Megan.  I've been blogging and otherwise talking books on the internets since 2007.  I live in a small town in Pennyslvania where I work in IT for a hospital system.  I guess I'm an essential employee in the age of Covid-19 but in a work from home capacity....and not on the weekends.

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?

I haven't participated since 2015 when my ankle was broken, so I just want to have some fun and get some reading done to kill some more quarantine time.  In 2015, I was killing broken ankle time.  They're remarkably similar except for how I can at least walk now.  Something different?  I don't think I'd listened to a single audiobook the last time I readathonned, so audiobooks will be my Readathon something different!

-------------------------------------------------

Updates

Hour 2 Update

Reading Now: A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews - a book I had started pre-readathon

It's been __28__ pages and __45__ reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 45

Cumulative Pages Read: 28

Books Completed: 0

Eating?: Very Berry Cheerios - breakfast of champions!
------------------------------------------------


Hour 6 Update

Reading Now: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

It's been __58__ pages/__51__  listening minutes and __137__ total reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 3 hours 2 minutes

Cumulative Pages Read/listening minutes: 86/51

Books Completed: 1 - A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

Eating?: Wheat Thins for stack, then wings, a Bai and  chocolate chip cookie for lunch

Etc: I wrapped up A Complicated Kindness which was good but kind of sad.  Then I had some lunch and did some tidying up while listening to Harry Potter.  Please note, I can't believe how dumb I've been all these years not incorporating audiobooks into my readathons.  They're a lifesaver when you want to keep reading but can't use your hands!

Like, you definitely can't use your hands when eating these:

In other news, I tried to use the master list to visit some readers and was disappointed to find most of the ones I randomly picked were people that appeared not to be participating.  Guess I'll try again later.  My first readathon (*the* first readathon??) I was but a cheerleader, and my inner readathon cheerleader will never die even though the tradition appears to have.  I know it's Readathon is huge now and times change and all, but still miss the "official" cheerleading deep in my heart of hearts.

Anybody participating and want a visit, drop me a line!

----------

Hour 14 Update

Reading Now: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, Full Throttle by Joe Hill

It's been __158__ pages/__92__  listening minutes and __266__ total reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 7 hours 28 minutes

Cumulative Pages Read/time listened: 244/2h22m

Books Completed: 2 - A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews, Inside Out by Terry Trueman

Eating?: A salad, more wings, and more chocolate chip cookies.  Hey, at least there's a salad in there.  It's something.  And the wings had celery with, too.  ;-)

Etc:  I've definitely been updating more often on Litsy, but that I haven't gotten back here for so many hours is a great indication that I've really been absorbed in my reading.  In a time where it's been hard to focus on anything, this is amazing.

After lunch, I took Harry Potter for a nice audiowalk, and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the very short and very absorbing Inside Out by Terry Trueman, also known as an "easy readathon win." I tossed in a short story from Joe Hill's collection to round things out and listened to some more Harry over dinner.  So far it's been a most excellent readathon. 

I think I'm probably going to cheer around a bit and then finish out with however far I can get with My Dark Vanessa before heading off to dreamland. 

Read-a-thon Hour 15 Update and Honoring Dewey

Reading Now: The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

It's been __60__ pages and __62__ reading minutes since my last update.

Total Time Spent Reading: 7 hr 42 min

Cumulative Pages Read: 407

Books Completed: 1 (Freewill by Chris Lynch)

Eating?: Nothing (can you believe it?)


I wasn't going to update again so soon. I kind of wanted to wait until I'd finished my current book. It's getting to be kind of a downer that I'm still reading this book even though I am really enjoying it, and it seems to be going quickly even though, uh, it apparently isn't because I've got to be about the slowest reader on the planet. *sigh, grumble, mumble* P.S. If I vanish in the near future, it's not necessarily because I have quit for the night (though it could be that, too), it may just be because my dad sleeps in the room where the computers are (it's a long, boring story), and I will be sent packing.

With that in mind, I definitely wanted to slip in Eva's Honoring Dewey Mini-challenge before I get booted from the computer room.

I vividly recall the first Read-a-thon and my first brushes with Dewey. Hers was one of the first blogs I got up the guts to actually comment on. She was one of the first to comment on my blog with any regularlarity, at a time when book blogging wasn't quite as popular as it seems to be now and my posts and reviews were often met with the sound of crickets chirping. It means so much to you at that time to have someone saying something to you on your blog and making you feel like maybe it's worthwile to continue because, hey, somebody is reading. Her comments were always thoughtful, and it was always an unexpected pleasure to find her comments on my blog. I mean, what was this blogging "rockstar" doing commenting on my little old blog? But, of course, I know that she was never caught up in her own awesomeness that way that I am (we are?), and that was part of what made her so special. I know that many were much closer to her than I was, but that doesn't mean that she didn't have a profound impact on me just the same.

I was a baby blogger at the time of the first Read-a-thon, probably not even two months old. I remember I was too shy or too busy or too something to really sign on to participate officially, but I was determined to unofficially cheerlead, which I did. I credit that first Read-a-thon with my official entry into the book blogging community. That's when I really started coming out of my shell and commenting on other blogs, and when others started coming here. I can't remember which exact blogging friends came from my slacker participation in that first Read-a-thon, but I do think that Eva was one. Regardless, it put me on the path to more serious book bloggerdom, and helped me to get out and about and ultimately meet the people that make the book blogosphere so special to me today.

I remember it hitting me like a ton of bricks when I heard that Dewey was gone. It was hard to believe that somebody I'd "known" practically since I'd begun this blogging thing, somebody who'd been the cornerstone of my whole book blogging experience, was there one day and just gone the next. I remember how hard it was to explain to my parents why I was so sad, but even if I didn't really know her, I did *know* her, in a way.

This whole Read-a-thon thing is so bittersweet now, as many others have said. Dewey gave us a great gift in it, and it's a privilege to see it grow and thrive even in her absence, knowing that it was her great brain child and that many of us carry on with it expressly in her honor. Thanks, Dewey, for showing me that blogging was fun, for helping us to build a community with staying power, and for giving us a bi-annual day of reading to share with each other and remember that, at the end of the day, regardless of anything else, we're all here because we love to read. You were, and still are, the best of the best.

Missing You

I don't know what to say, but I can't just say nothing. I was shocked as was much of the book blogosphere to hear of Dewey's sudden passing last week. I've been reading Dewey's blog for just about as long as I've been a blogger. Though, I've never seen her, it feels like losing a friend. It is like losing a friend.

I can't say how much I have appreciated Dewey's enthusiasm for books, her great generosity, and most of all her many efforts to build our book blogging community. Many of my best blog friends I discovered because of Dewey's tireless efforts with things like the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon and the Weekly Geeks, and all them (of you!) are priceless gifts.

Thank you, Dewey, for everything you did and everything you were. You will be greatly missed.